Eastern EU deputies demand ban on communist symbols

European Parliament members from Eastern Europe are calling for a ban on
communist symbols such as the hammer and sickle if the European Union
decides to outlaw Nazi symbols, such as the swastika. Lawmakers from the
Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania and Slovakia said that any
such ban should also cover communist symbols because of the killings and
torture suffered by people in the former Soviet Union and the countries of
the Eastern Bloc. The deputies wrote to the EU's Justice, Freedom and
Security Commissioner Franco Frattini to press their demand.

President signs bill limiting movement of some asylum seekers

President Vaclav Klaus has signed a law restricting the movement of
some unsuccessful asylum seekers in the Czech Republic. The law
prevents foreigners whose application for Czech asylum has been
rejected from leaving the refugee facility for some time until they are
transported to a facility in another EU country which can assess their
asylum application. These asylum seekers will be allowed to leave the
refugee centre only in clearly specified cases, as, for instance to see
a doctor or arrange documents for their asylum application. A group of
Senators object that the law is at variance with the Charter of
Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, and they are planning to turn to the
Constitutional court in this respect.

Tests confirm 17th BSE case in Czech Republic, 300 cows to be killed

Tests have proved that a four-year-old cow from a farm in the eastern
Jihlava district was infected with mad cow disease or BSE. The state
veterinary office has announced it is the 17th BSE case in the Czech
Republic, and some 300 cows will have to be killed in a preventive
measure. The first BSE case occurred in the Czech Republic in June
2001. Since then all slaughtered animals over 30 months of age have had
to be tested for BSE.

Czech company to withdraw anti-semitic television advertisement

The Czech branch of the garden tools company Mountfield has decided to
withdraw a TV commercial featuring a miserly orthodox Jew after
Israel's ambassador to the Czech Republic complained it promoted
anti-Semitism. The commercial for a sale at Mountfield's stores
featured an orthodox Jew happily rubbing his hands together at the
announcement of price reductions. The company defended itself saying
the commercial promoting their radical price reductions featured a
prudent shopper. The commercial will be taken off the air from February
7. The advertisement had been screened on all four of the country's
terrestrial television channels since January.

Eastern European currencies hit highs against the euro

The Czech crown passed the key psychological barrier of 30 crowns to
the euro on Thursday, hitting the highest point for two and a half
years of 29.95 crowns to the single European currency in morning
trading. Vis-à-vis the US dollar, the crown is stable, trading around
23.02 crowns. Analysts explain the development by investors'
expectations of strong December trade figures being published on
Friday. Other Eastern European currencies strengthened sharply against
the euro on Thursday as well, leading the Slovak central bank to
intervene in the market to weaken its currency.

Goalkeeper Petr Cech, 22, sets Premiership record

The Czech international football goalkeeper, Petr Cech, has set a new
record for minutes gone without conceding a goal in England's
prestigious Premier League. On Wednesday Cech, who - at 22 - is young
for a top-flight goalkeeper, extended the Premiership record to 781
minutes when he kept another clean sheet for his club Chelsea. The
Pilsen-born player also holds the Czech league record of 903 minutes,
which he set while at Sparta Prague.

Weather

It should by sunny to partly cloudy in the coming days with daytime
temperatures hovering around zero degrees Celsius.